Absolution of Souls."
by The Bud
Summary: What if.. I love what ifs Jean instead of Cyclops batteled Apocalipse?


Disclaimer:  
  
If I were Stan " the man" Lee, I wouldn't need to write a disclaimer, but because I'm not  
  
  
and I do not own the X-Men, I do. I'm not very good at discriptive diolog, meaning I can't tell you the whole picture  
  
  
of how the do things such as "and I spin around" just doesn't sound right, but true to my everybody should broaden their  
  
  
horizions attidude, I thought it was time to do so to mine. This is a "what if" (I love what ifs) about The Apocalipse  
  
  
story line that departed Cyclops. What if Jean had killed Apacalypse instead, before Scott martered himself?   
  
  
I also got snippits of this story from a country song that I had no permission using. You might recognise it.  
  
  
Enjoy true believers! (credit to "The Man.")  
  
  
Yer ol' pal,  
  
The Bud.  
  
  
" Absolution of Souls."  
  
  
It's going to be tough walking back into that boat house today. We all knew  
  
  
That Apacalipse would have to die sometimes, But I never figured the cost.  
  
  
Not the dollors and cents wize, but whom. I always thought I'd be the one to  
  
  
go. I knew Jean would be strong and could live without me. Now I fear I can't  
  
  
do the same. My mind flashes back to two days ago, when we were taken as one of   
  
  
"The Twelve" after we had broken our out of our containment cells.  
  
  
  
Apacalipse had hold of a collegue of ours, Nate Grey. Just little more than a boy  
  
  
and no match for that demon! He was going to "merge" with the boy and there seemed nothing we could do.  
  
  
Xaiver, Jean and I had seemingly depleated our powers, I knew I had.   
  
  
I told Jean that I "love you" and lunged to push Nate out of the way and stop the transformation.  
  
  
Jean had other plans. With a firey burst of orange, red and yellowe lights blazing in fire, she cought her  
  
  
second wind. I was thrown out of the way as well as the boy and we were privy to a terrifing yet..  
  
  
yet so beautiful image and a sight burned to my memory. All around was dark and the only thing you could see  
  
  
was Jean eminating with energy struggling to fight off Apacalypses advances. They were tearing eachother  
  
  
apart and none of us could do anything but watch. She had been weakned so seriously even the Phoenix effect  
  
  
had started to fade, but she fought on for what seemed like, hours, days even watching her die, but in reality,  
  
  
minutes. I had only minutes left with my wife and instead of enjoying my time with her, I watched in horror  
  
  
as she picked Apacalipse apart and he drained her of life. There were only flashes you could see.  
  
  
Like pictures in a slide show flashing by of the most gruesome battel imagenable. Then.. it stopped.  
  
  
Jean lay broken and beaten on the dirt floor with blood and life pouring out of her so that you knew there was no  
  
  
way tomorrow would ever see her. Apacalipse was in shreds but could still live.  
  
  
She tore him to his core and there was nothing left but a slobbering old man. A gunshot would end him and never  
  
  
have him loose upon this world again. Cable took care of that. He said an Askanski prayer that apparently  
  
  
offended Apacalipse and... Bang. The nightmare was over for him. But not for me.  
  
  
  
As I walk into my house I shared with my lovely , unselfish wife, I see that everything  
  
  
reminds me of her. Would it always be like this? By the door is a hat Wolverine had bought her  
  
  
in Mexico. She had pale skin that never could handle the sun. She wore that straw hat everywhere.  
  
  
Rain, sun, wind or shine. Its hard to see it there without her.  
  
  
She's "died" so many times, part of me thinks she can't be really gone,and the other half knows she is.   
  
  
Her black shoes are in the hall. I remember last minute Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve when she got them.  
  
  
I thought it was silly when she said they called her name. I'll never be able to forget the way  
  
  
she looked, the way she SOUNDED when she laughed. Her cheeks would bulb and she would blush, I fell in  
  
  
love with her the first time when she did that. The thing is, only Jean did that. Maddie's nose crinkeled  
  
  
when she laughed and Dark Phoenix toothed her laugh. Thats how we knew who it was in the cocoon when  
  
  
we found her. She laughed at a joke only the two of us knew and I couldn't stay away.  
  
  
I can feel my tears well up on me as I go into our bedroom. Her book is laying on the bed  
  
  
I never did understand V.C. Andrews' novels, but Jean loved them. She's got the two of hearts  
  
  
marking her place. I picked up the book once and saw that Ruby, the girl on the cover looked a whole lot like  
  
  
Jean. Paul looked like Alex and there was even an evil twin like Maddie. I got smacked once for pointing that out.  
  
  
" All That Glitters" I think was the title. I just look around the room  
  
  
because so much of her remains. I just want to spin around and blast this all so I can forget how much I miss her.  
  
  
Less than a week ago, she told me I was going to be a father. Now I wish I hadn't acted so upset.  
  
  
I can feel the hot salty tears welling in my eyes and I whip away my glasses to wipe them. Instead, I let them flow.  
  
  
I crumple unto the bed and let them flow. 


End file.
